Commission looks to scrap car taxes

Bill Cummings

Published 10:13 pm, Thursday, September 12, 2013

HARTFORD -- Democratic leaders plan to take another swing at eliminating car taxes when the General Assembly reconvenes next year during an election cycle.

House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, on Thursday said a committee charged with studying regional efficiency will again look for ways to eliminate the car tax and to reimburse towns and cities for lost revenue.

Towns and cities cried foul and said shutting off the car tax would hand them nearly $700 million in annual revenue losses. Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch said his city would lose $13 million annually, and Stamford officials placed their potential loss at $20 million annually.

While Sharkey and other commission members on Thursday pledged to reimburse towns and cities for losses, they stopped short of saying those losses would be fully covered. Last year's proposal offered only 4.9 million in reimbursement over two years as car taxes were slowly phased out.

"We have committed to providing a level of compensation," Sharkey said.

"Taxing motor vehicles at different mill rates is crazy, and we are the only state that does it," said state Rep. Jeffrey Berger, D-Waterbury. "We are looking at ways to fund the system of reimbursement over the course of a few years and ultimately eliminate the car tax entirely."